Joshua Jackson Says Goodbye to Fringe

Our hearts are breaking, but as much as we may lament it, the two-hour Fringe finale is happening tonight at 8/7c on FOX. As a bit of salve on our wound, we were able to participate in a conference call with Joshua Jackson ("Peter Bishop") who gave us his final thoughts on the series and its impeding, and by all accounts epic, end. Before we move on to the particulars of what was said on the call, we do have a message to pass along from Jackson who was, for a moment, speaking for the Fringe cast and crew.

He wanted to, very sincerely, thank the passionate fanbase that are, as he said, "a large part of the story of the show Fringe." The vocal viewership, in fact, "made it impossible for our show to not be dismissed," Jackson added. Where if just the numbers were in play, it would have been cancelled at least two years ago, in all likelihood. So if you've been a loyal Fringe community member, accept that thanks, it really has made a difference to the evolution, and satisfactory conclusion, of the show.

Onward!

Tonight, On Fringe:

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"There is a really emotionally honest resolution to the idea of family sacrifice tonight."

"The first of the two hours really deals with Olivia's story, almost exclusively," Jackson said when asked what we can expect to see from, and for, Peter in the finale. "In a very Fringey way, it gives us a final insight into where she is, or has been, over the course of this season.Then in the finale, as much as Walter maybe called on to make a sacrifice and the gang in general is trying to implement Walter and Donald's plan, it's fairly spread across all of the players. The proper ending for the Peter we've known on screen for the past five-years happens tonight. I love the ending. All the big three, Olivia, Walter and Peter, get to the place where they need to be."

"I feel like, that rather than going on too long, or having it cut off in an abortive way, we get to tell the ending of our story," the actor added. "There is a really emotionally honest resolution to the idea of family sacrifice tonight."

Peter The father, Husband And Son Versus Peter The Savior:

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The most satisfying thing to me as an actor has been the work that John Noble and I did.

As we've said previously, this season has been a postscript to the wrap-up that Season 4 offered. Certain things have shifted, though, particularly for Peter. He is no longer "the boy who must live" and after a long and winding journey, has landed in the more domestic role that he played in the beginning of the series, rather than that of a savior figure. When we asked Jackson which felt more satisfying, he replied, "Always what was interesting to me about Fringe was that even though the larger story was as big as it could possibly be, saving universes and doppelgangers and all the rest of it, the beating heart of the story is the family tale. I really enjoyed the fact that what was driving Peter and Olivia this year was the recovery and loss of their child, and them as couple trying to grapple with that. We kept the larger story going, and kept the interpersonal honest."

"For Olivia, this emotionally disconnected broken woman, to find a way to allow herself to trust, to find the strength an courage to fall in love and have her heart broken, and still remain emotionally available enough to have a child with a man. For Peter to get over his anger at his father, to essentially fall in love with his father and forgive him, to become part of the family. Those are universal themes."

"The most satisfying thing to me as an actor has been the work that John Noble and I did to keep the father/son relationship as honest and dynamic as we could in the center of this large, and very crazy science fiction story." Jackson reiterated. "My piece of it (Fringe) is the story of the prodigal son who starts off doing everything he can to get away from this. And then eventually gets drawn in through love of his father and then falls in love with a woman, and over the course of the seasons, completely reverses his desire to now become a dedicated son, reliable husband and a crazily protective father."

In a bit of Fringe-esque poetry, Walter and Peter eventually became reflections of one another.

Observer Peter:

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Neither Wyman nor myself were interested in having another season of: "Olivia and Peter, will they or won't they?"

Jackson was asked if the observer storyline this season allowed him to finally have an opportunity to play an "alternate" Peter, to which he replied, "I was never too concerned about doing an "alt version", as much fun as that seemed like. It wasn't something that I felt was necessary for me to do to feel like I'd been a part of Fringe. What was more important for me was to find what would be an honest and satisfying conclusion for the Bishop family. Neither showrunner J.H. Wyman nor myself were interested in having another season of: "Olivia and Peter, will they or won't they?" So, it was more interesting to have them be a married unit that was deeply damaged by the loss of their child."

"Peter mirrored the mistakes that his father had made. The becoming an observer portion of it was just a natural outcropping of Walter's great sin , which was breaking the universe to save his child, because there was no place that was too far for him to go. In the version of the story that we were telling, the most outrageous thing that Peter could do would be to become the enemy in order to destroy him. That was a natural outcropping and gave Peter and Olivia an nice arc to their story to try and figure out how to be together again, rather than alone together."

Fringe After Fringe: It's Up To The Fans:

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I think it will live on. How that manifests itself, I don't know. Perhaps there will be a movie.

"With the Observers and with the glyphs, Bad Robot wanted to put in a layer that was beyond just watching the show to deepen peoples experience of Fringe, as is done in most popular media today," Jackson said of fan engagement. "But the audience itself took that and ran with it in a way that went beyond anyone's wildest imaginations.One of the most interesting things that's come out of the show is the community built around it, and how powerful that can be in flipping the scales of a show surviving or failing," he said.

As to how that will play out in the life-after-life for the series, the actor said he is fascinated by that topic, and could talk about it for hours. "I feel like like Fringe and its afterlife is a test case for the new way that television works," Jackson said. "Because with Firefly and Star Trek, part of what made that audience so passionate was scarcity. It was hard for the community of those shows to find places to talk about them and disseminate them. Firefly was before the ubiquitous nature of the Internet and fan forums and things like that. So, Fringe in an odd way, started its afterlife while it was still on the air. The community of the show is currently strong and vibrant. I think it will live on in that community. How that manifests itself, I don't know. Perhaps there will be a movie, I think there will probably be fan fiction, maybe there will be ome filmed addendum to the show, televised or podcasted, or however that manifests itself. But I feel like the afterlife for Fringe is a test case for how modern shows are going to live on, after they go off the air."

A Door Closes, A Window Opens:

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Fringe's conclusion leaves room for more.

Clearly Jackson was hesitant to reveal anything that could be considered a spoiler. He did, however, hint that "the beauty of what Wyman has done" is to provide a satisfactory closure to the series, that still, "allows the space for people to live on with these characters...should they desire to."

What Jackson Will Miss:

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Knowing that there is no tomorrow, you want to make sure you go out on the highest note possible.

Jackson has said before, and reiterated today, that what he will miss as an actor on this show is the "company" that he has bonded with over the course of the five years. On Fringe, as on Dawson's Creek, the actor was fortunate enough to know that they were headed into their final season, which gave him the opportunity to "say a proper goodbye" to the cast and crew. He was also able to ensure that he was "giving everything he had" to the final episodes. "Knowing that there is no tomorrow, you want to make sure you go out on the highest note possible." Jackson said. The actor is particularly invested in the conclusion of this series. "I wasn't really a fan of 90210," he said. "Dawson's Creek wasn't my genre of show. Fringe on the other hand, is right up my alley. So I probably have more of a personal stake in the climax of this show, and making sure it is a satisfactory end to the journey the audience has been on. So hopefully we accomplish that tonight."

The Fringe two-hour finale airs this Friday at 8/7c on FOX.

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at@RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN.